Several pilot project RFAs were offered over this funding period to specifically address AECC goals identified within the context of the Center's strategic planning mechanism and the yearly meetings of the External Scientific Advisory Committee, (i) The first pilot project RFA issued in 2008 was focused on stimulating collaborations between clinical and laboratory investigators with the objective of promoting translational research within the context of a clinical study. A requirement was that the investigator participated in a disease-oriented focus group at the AECC Advances retreat, (ii) The second pilot project RFA was issued in Spring 2010. This initiative grew out of the Breast Cancer Working Group's activities and need to strengthen translational research in breast cancer with the context of the Tumor Microenvironment and Metastasis program. The RFA requested a range of proposals that address tumor and/or host factors contributing to metastasis, predictive markers of metastases, etc. (iii) The third RFA (January 2011) provided grants to support utilization of AECC Shared Resources in order to obtain preliminary data to support a grant application. Total awards in support of all pilot projects through the CCSG mechanism was $350,000. Representative projects supported by the CCSG are described here.